During manufacturing of a cutting insert, the cutting insert undergoes a sintering process. Unfortunately, surfaces of the cutting insert may become slightly distorted due to the sintering process. A further grinding process may minimize or eliminate these surface distortions, but not all of the surfaces on the insert may be ground because of the extra cost associated with the grinding process.
It is important that the insert be securely seated in the pocket of the tool holder during a machining operation. The distortion on the surfaces of the insert that were introduced during the sintering process may cause the cutting insert to be improperly seated in the pocket of the tool holder. This improper seating could lead to excessive runout of the system.
Several attempts have been made to minimize the contact area between the cutting insert and the pocket of the tool holder. One such attempt is to provide the pocket wall and/or the cutting insert with one or more contact “points” in the form of a pad, land or protrusion having a relatively large planar surface. Although these contact “points” somewhat minimize the contact area between the cutting insert and the pocket, a sufficient amount of contact area still exists between the cutting insert and the pocket that still may prevent the insert from properly seating in the pocket of the tool holder. Thus, there is a need to minimize the effect of distortion on the surfaces of the cutting insert, particularly the flank faces or sidewalls of the cutting insert, so that the cutting insert can be properly seated in the pocket of the tool holder.